Wedding {wednesday}

Wedding Planning. I am getting there, but I feel like I have so much to do! 

I am almost 6 months away from our wedding day and there's still a huge list, but on the upside I created our Save the Dates last night and I am so excited to get them back and mail them. I will share them once they go out in the mail, but for today I will show you  how I asked my bridesmaids to be part of my special day.

I had seen several cute ideas on pintrest and I liked the one where you mail a locked and inside has a note saying will you be my bridesmaid. However I also liked the invitation where a message is stenciled in white color pencil then water color added ontop of that... so I combined them both. I decided early on that I did not want to do typical lockets, I do not see them actually being used, so I made key chain lockets.

This is the message I made inside of the jewelry box. I took water color paper and drew 

" I cannot say 'I Do' without you!" in white color pencil. Then I used water colors and painted ontop of that message. When it is still damp slightly wipe off the color pencil where the message is with a q-tip to make the message more vibrant. 

This is how the package looked when opened. The locket I bought in a lot of ten off of Ebay then strung them on jewelry wire with beads. I think they turned out pretty darn cute if I must say so myself! 

This is the message inside the locket. 

 So this is how I asked all my bridesmaids to share my special day! I have a total of 8 bridesmaids and 2 honorary bridesmaids. I cannot wait for all of them to meet! 

Fashion Week.

Last week was Charleston Fashion Week. It's a fun but VERY busy and stressful week. We plan set up (and break down) all of the after parties each night as well as setting up the Style Lounge. To say the very least it is a lot of running around like crazy for seven days, but fun. The trend seemed to be mermaid or ball gown and lots of lace! 

Crazy awesome bridal fascinator.

A bridal veil with LOTS of bling. 

Beautiful dresses by White on Daniel Island, which is where I bought my dress.

Hippie Chic dress by Brooke Ray. 

Lots of bridesmaids dresses, which were all very glamorous! 

Brussels Sprouts?!

A few weeks back we were eating in one of the high end restaurants downtown and there were roasted brussels sprouts. I have never been a brussels sprout eater, I had them once when I was a kid and they were gross and slimey... never again. But these brussels sprouts were not slimey or gross, they were like mini roasted cabbages that were delicious. So I did what most females do when they have a craving... look up the best sounding recipe on pintrest and run to the store for the ingredients. 

Alas, Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Bacon. I mean c'mon everything is better with bacon! 

Ingredients: 

• 1-pound fresh large brussels sprouts, washed, cut in half, brown ends cut off
• 4 slices thick-cut bacon, diced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 400.
• Line a baking sheet with foil.
• Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl; toss to coat evenly.
• Spread the brussels sprouts on the prepared baking sheet.
• Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until tender, stirring occasionally for even cooking.
• Taste for salt and pepper.
• Serve immediately

My new favorite side dish, yum!

Friday Favorites {engagement pictures!}

So my Friday Favorites is about our engagement picture session! We had so much fun. 
Last Friday we had our engagement pictures. We had to reschedule it twice because of all the rain so when we woke up Friday and it was sunny and gorgeous, I could not have been more thrilled. By the afternoon when we went to go meet our photographer it was a bit chilly, she was in pants, a jacket and boots... I opted for a green sun dress and heels. I had planned this outfit for a month and paired it with a favorite necklace given to me by my maid of honor, so it could have been snowing and I still would have worn the ensemble! Ha! 

Our pictures were taken downtown in Charleston. It is the perfect back drop for pictures because there are so many amazing places to go. Our photographer is simply amazing and took some great shots. We are so excited to see the results of all the pictures, but here is a sneak peek of one! 

You can find our photographer at www.lizduren.com

Happy Hour!

So I noticed I have not posted any actual cocktail recipes!! I am a liquor sales rep and I am around it all day so like any other job, I try not to think about it when I am off the clock. Don't get me wrong, I love my job, but when I am say blogging, liquor is not on my mind! However, what is a Southern Happy Hour without a little cocktails? 

My company just acquired a new brand, St~Germain and I am so excited we have it in our portfolio! So when my mom and dad came down last weekend, I made mom a cocktail called The St~Germain Cocktail and it is fabulous! This cocktail is very refreshing and it may actually make it on our cocktail menu for our signature drinks at our wedding because I love it so much! 

The St~Germain Cocktail 

2 parts Brut Champagne or Dry Sparkling Wine

1.5 parts St~Germain

2 parts club soda

Stir all ingredients and pour into a tall Collins glass filled with ice and garnish with a long lemon twist. 

Such a refreshing and pretty drink!

Friday Favorites!

So I have a few favorites to share! 

1. Clinique's Strawberry Fudge Eye Shadow-  I have hazel eyes so I always gravitate towards pinks or light pearl type of eye shadows, and strawberry fudge is the perfect color. It blends nicely and the brown is not as dark as it looks in the palette, which I only use in the crease of my eyes. 

2. Abita Strawberry Ale- I look forward to this beer every spring and summer. I savor it, every single drop! Scott surprised me with a six pack and after sharing it when we had company in town, I am down to two... I need to put it back on my shopping list! It is crisp and sweet, and drinks more like a wine really. Simply put, it is SO GOOD. 

3. Pad Kee Mao- This is my FAVORITE dish. ever. I could eat it every single day. It may not look super appetizing but it is amazing. We have a wonderful Thai restaurant here called Basil and I go there as often as possible. It is flavor packed and can be slightly spicy. I have looked up the recipe and realized it is much more sensible to just go a buy a single serving because the ingredients are things that I do not have in my pantry, and they're costly. So trust me, try it! 

4. My New Car- I drive a lot of miles for my job so I had put over 100,000 miles on my old car in less than four years! Eek. It had started acting tired and little aggravating things started breaking so I traded her in for a 2013 Jeep Compass. I have driven cars my entire life and wanted something a bit bigger but not school bus/surban sized, so it is the perfect size for me. The best part is the seat warmers! I did not think I would use seat warmers with how warm Charleston's weather gets, but it is like a daily mini massage. I love it! 

5. Sally Hansen Airbrush Legs- I used this product for our engagement pictures and it looks so natural! I used medium glow since I already had a base tan and it looked so good with my skin. You spray it into your hand, and it comes out like the consistency of foundation, and apply it onto your legs like. It is basically a spray foundation I would say. It is water resistant so I had to use a wash cloth and lightly scrub to get it off, but it did not come off on my clothes! Ill be using it in the future for sure! 

Polish {addict}

So I keep adding to my finger nail polish collection, and I have found a new favorite color! It is Essie's Cute as a Button! It is the perfect spring color, not too orange not a bright pink (like a million of my others)... the perfect coral.  I never wear the same color back to back, usually I will change to a different color once it starts chipping, but this one will be worn consecutively, I just love it so!

The perfect spring color!

Brew Vival {the rain edition}

As part of Scott's Christmas gift I bought him Brew Vival tickets. Brew Vival is a huge beer festival with tons of different types of craft beer from all over. In short it is Scott's dream festival. Tickets were pretty pricey but I knew he would want to go and would love it. 

Scott had his friend Travis and his girlfriend Cameron come to visit from Spartanburg. I invited my cousin Ashley and her boyfriend Trey to come and stay with us too, so we had a full house last weekend.

The festival was fun, but let's just say the weather was brutal... and the entire festival was outdoors! It monsoon poured ALL DAY. We knew it was going to rain but I had not even considered the amount of rain that occurred! Thank God I purchased rain boots the day before, because they were a necessity. 

They had all sorts of food trucks, which are simply divine here! Scott and I discovered a new love for a Vietnamese sandwich called a Banh Mi, from the Autobahn food truck. We loved it so much we went to CO, a restaurant downtown, on Sunday night and got another Banh Mi. At least they are semi healthy! You should try one! 

It was pouring out, glad we brought umbrella's rain boots and hats! 

Cameron, Scott and Travis in their rain gear! 

Plenty of crazy drunk people decided to mud wrestle or make mud angels... HA!

SOOO much mud, past peoples ankles! Rain boots were a must for this event! I don't believe I've seen this much mud!