christmas eve style.

i got this dress from modcloth a few months ago & fell in love. i've been saving it for something special, and christmas eve is certainly that. paired with a few other favorite accessories and some black tights, i'm ready for church & our annual ruth's chris dinner! what will you be wearing on christmas?

christmas eve. by laurafowlkes featuring leather wedge shoes

congrats sis!

on saturday, my sister courtney graduated from her master's program at the university of north carolina at charlotte. before i get to the (awesome) party, i'm going to tell you a little bit about my sister.

{i met courtney when i was 12 years old. we were at our cheer/gymnastics gym, and i can't quite remember the details, but for whatever reason, we decided that we wanted our parents to get married. i have no idea why, seeing as how i'd known this then 13 year old for all of 30 minutes. fast forward to a few months later when our parents actually got married. yes, we are a real life version of the parent trap. or something like it, at least.

it's been 12 years since then. we've been through a lot. she's been through a lot. she hasn't had the easiest life. our parents haven't had the prettiest relationship. her & i have shared a lot of heartache over our friendship/sistership in the past 12 years. she has felt the pain of addiction, seen the grace in recovery, and learned a lot about herself along the way. i'm probably saying more than she'd like me to on the internet, but i love her story, and i'm really proud of her.

on saturday, courtney walked across a stage, wearing a cap of a dear friend that she tragically lost this past fall, and received her master's in counseling as a clinical mental health professional. to say that i am proud of her doesn't really cover it, but i guess sometimes words fail us. so cheers, to my sister & my best friend on planet earth. god put you on this earth to love on people who don't think they deserve it, and that includes me. thanks for what you do & i can't wait to keep watching you change people's lives.}

so back to the party...

about a month ago i sent out these great invites from tiny prints.

you see, our parents love to decorate for christmas. the good news is that they have great taste, so it's a lot of really beautiful christmas decorations, but there wasn't really a way to have much of a theme other than christmas. so we pretty much decided the theme would be gold/glitter, and the only thing courtney REALLY wanted was glitter rimmed champagne glasses. easy enough.

i spent a lot of time researching and even more time crafting. i did some ordering & some cake tasting along the way as well. see below for the results and click the links below the pictures for the directions to the crafts from other various blogs!

{pom pom balls: here; congrats banner: here}

{amazing cake by wow factor cakes}

{garland: here}

{food table; menu was all of court's favorite foods!}

{dipped glasses in water & gold sprinkles from michael's. SO easy & so awesome.}

{please indulge in some of court's fave foods; frame was refinished from a thrift store}

{food/drink labels}

{love our friends!}

{i love you court!}

{special thanks to party reflections for the linens, shot glasses for shrimp shooters, and platters; to our chef from work for making court's favorite crab cakes; to wow factor cakes for the amazing cake; and lastly to my parents for providing their home, all the food and beverage, and for letting me 100% plan this one}

rewind: friendsgiving 2012.

to say "i've been busy," is the understatement of the century. i've been married to my job since, well, july? but the past month has been insane, leaving little room for much of anything, especially blogging! however, this event was too special not to have a post, so rewind with me back to the tuesday before thanksgiving...

roomie amanda texted us few weeks before thanksgiving and told us that her work was giving out free turkeys to all their employees . i know, nice employer, right? so we figured since we'd be going to our parent's houses for actual thanksgiving, that we would throw a "friendsgiving!" we picked a date, sent out the invites via the oh so fabulous paperless post, and started planning.

once in a blue moon, working at an event venue has its perks. this was definitly one of those times. we had about 30 people RSVP for the party, but where the heck were 30 people going to sit? solution: borrow tables & chairs from work. i rented some dinner party essentials and borrowed some as well. we got everything set up on monday night, leaving just the food to be cooked on tuesday. guests arrived around 7:15pm and we sat down for dinner about an hour later. let me just say, i don't know how moms do this every holiday! i'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking...

{pumped about our first turkey!}

{meet henry. yes, we named it.}

{panoramic view... after moving half our furniture into the garage}

{the set up}

{katie's banner}

{i made baked corn...}

{ ...and mashed potatoes}

{me and d were so proud of the turkey}

{momma helping us derrick carve}

{pals!}

it took a lot of work, and a lot of help from a lot of sweet people to pull off this party, but we did it! it was such a fun night spent with so many people that are so important to us.  a special thanks to...

derrick, for letting me borrow his car to run things back and forth from work and also carving the turkey & the ham; to my mom, for also helping transport chairs, helping us with the turkey, letting me borrow her silverware and making dessert for a party she didn't even attend; to my dad & stepmom for answering all my crazy questions about cooking the turkey; to party reflections, for the linens, napkins, plates, and glasses and for honoring my work discount for a personal event; to everyone who brought a casserole or dessert or alcohol; to andy for his awesome toast; to courtney for making everyone go around the room and say what they are thankful for, that was hilarious/awesome; to everyone who stayed to help us clean up; and lastly, thanks to my roomies! we may just have to make this an annual event!