A Golden Celebration

I had SO MUCH FUN this weekend celebrating Mary Claire and her upcoming wedding!

Our day was considered a "Golden Celebration" and it was jam packed.

I picked up the bride-to-be and Mom had donuts at the house for the misses.

 Our first stop was pedicures and manicures at Deluxe Spa & Nails

It was the perfect start to the morning. If you've never been to this particular place, you need to stop what you are doing and go now!

They do scented water to soak in, hot stones, hot wax, great leg/feet massages, they are awesome!

 After toes and nails, we made our way to Babalu's for a delicious lunch. 

It was perfect! The weather was awesome so we of course sat outside. 

Then, my favorite part, we did a private yoga session at Butterfly Yoga in Fondren. 

I wasn't sure how this was going to turn out but it was so. much. fun!

Our instructor was awesome and she was so patient with this room full of beginners (mostly). 

 Melissa's Mermaid Pose

 and...Mary Claire's Mermaid Pose. This was definitely the hardest one! 

And I had to share my little success for the day! 

After yoga, we all needed a bit of a break and then we met back up at 6:00 for the lingerie shower at my house! I had so much fun decorating and getting ready for this. Big shout out to Mama Carol and her beautiful flower arrangements! 

 The drink table. Hot chocolate (of many different sorts), punch, and the regulars. 

THIS delicious punch was so easy and so awesome. 

2 bottles of Moscato, 4 cups of Sprite, 1 frozen Pink Lemonade Concentrate & frozen fruit

 The awesome garland came from Etsy. This lady does a large variety of different color schemes, etc. I thought it was the perfect touch!

 This gorgeous door hanger also came from Etsy. 

 The dessert bar

 My favorite! Thank you Deana!

 So, for Mary Claire to be able to open a gift, she had to answer a question about Grant. 

Needless to say, it was a fun game and I think her face says it all for some of it!

It looks like she didn't agree with this one!

 Melissa's sweet gift had a poem to go along with it. 

"The Panty Poem" was the perfect end to the gift opening!

 The best 

 after "The Panty Poem"

We also had about an hour of playing "Just Dance"--if we weren't hysterically laughing before, we were after all the dances. It was awesome. 

 To top the evening off, we went to Fondren Public!

It was the best night celebrating Mary Claire with all the people that love her the most! 

We love you so much Mary Claire and can't wait for these 25 days to FLY BY!

Good Things

Sometimes it's the little things...

and this past week I had a lot of the little things happen and I am quite thankful!

My kids were in the newspaper (The Weekly Leader) and it was awesome. 

 These beautiful skies on Monday evening

We have the perfect view from our backyard

I don't think it will ever get old!

Sweet potatoes, another thing I will never grow tired of (especially when cinnamon is involved)

Not really a little thing--but a pretty HUGE THING! 

We found this lady's wedding dress and it. is. stunning. (to say the least)

It was such a fun afternoon. 

Come on December 20th! 

 Trying out my hand at being a barista (only in my home)

Homemade chai tea lattes, with a little cinnamon art to top it off. 

I haven't perfected them yet, but I'm getting close!

My Dad's sermon this morning really spoke to my heart. 

He's doing a series on the Lord's prayer and today's portion was 

"As we also have forgiven our debtors"

and man...there's one thing that he said that struck a cord. 

When we forgive someone, truly forgive them, we absorb the debt that they owe us. 

We take the hurt and the repercussions and we handle them, we take it, they are fully forgiven. 

When we stop to think about that...we might find ourselves thinking "...Well that's not fair. They did wrong to me, and they are off the hook and I am going to deal with what they caused" It's kinda hard to believe that that's what we get for forgiving. For doing The Lord's will and forgiving those who have caused us pain and now have a debt to us. Crazy right? 

Who else has done that? Who has done the specifically for me?

Jesus absorded ALL of my "sin debt" and suffered for every. single. bit of it.

How can we think we don't deserve to suffer?

I know right?

Whew! 

Thank you Jesus for YOUR forgiveness of my nasty, nasty, debts. 

And ending my night finishing up this book--which has turned out to be really good!  

Barbie Bash Bachelorette Weekend

Last weekend, me and the girls headed to Nashville to celebrate my bachelorette weekend!

We had a blast, had a lot of good food, great shopping, and just having a big ole girls weekend. 

I am so thankful and so blessed by each and everyone of these girls. 

The Lord is so good and I see so much of His provision in my life 

through the people He's placed in my life. 

As always, here's a few pictures:

All of us at Jackson's eating a delicious meal 

Cookie Dough Egg Rolls--heaven in a crust! 

Some downtown scenery

Love these people so much and so happy to share this time with you all! 

In one of our favorite cities, enjoying beautiful weather!

Las Paletas--Gourmet Popsicles

Hot chocolate with chili, Pineapple Raspberry, Strawberry Cream, Chai, Banana Nut and Avocado!

Since we were in Nashville the weekend following Halloween, we decided to dress up---what better way to celebrate than to dress up as different Barbie! I present to you Bridal Barbie's Crew:

Vet Barbie, Greek Barbie, Winter Barbie,
Rock Star Barbie, Monster Barbie, Biker Barbie,
Hippie Barbie, Vintage Barbie and Indian Barbie. 

The whole crew

We ate at a delicious place called Cabana's--it was so awesome! We had our own "cabana" with our own tv, music hook up, and it was closed off, it was so cool! 

So thankful for you and putting together such a perfect Bachelorette weekend!

Friends since 99' and still going strong!

We ended the weekend eating breakfast at the best place--Pancake Pantry! 

Thank you Jesus for the beautiful scenery on our ride home! 

13 days and counting until I am Mrs. Jason Ellis :)