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}