News Flash

My precious Mama was featured today in our town's newspaper in the Food Section where they feature local "celebrity" cooks! Click here to read the article. 

If you know anything about my family, you know the reputation Mama has as an incredible cook!!  Her life has been surrounded by the food service industry - whether it's cooking for her family, catering for hundreds, or supervising the nutrition program in our school system that feeds several thousand children each day.  My friends laugh when I say we never ate supper out of a box growing up - everything, every night was made from scratch -and "fast food" was a special treat.  I'm so glad my Mama taught me how to not only cook, but to prepare great meals for my family. 

So proud of you, Mama!!

A Decade!!

Ten years ago today I went to lunch at the Station House Grille with my friend Callie, her husband Robert, and met Brad for the first time.  I had gotten a cute new outfit to wear, had painted my nails red the night before, and had rolled my hair that morning.  Brad stood outside the restaurant waiting on us, and shook my hand and introduced himself when we arrived.  We talked and laughed with Callie and Robert over lunch about family, church, and some of Robert and Brad's "adventures".  I had Cajun Chicken Salad; he ate a hamburger steak.  He took Callie and I back to work in his shiny charcoal gray Silverado, that still had the new car scent lingering in the air.  He told me he enjoyed lunch, and maybe we could do it again sometime. 

And, that was that.

I had no clue going to lunch that day a new chapter of my life would begin.  Brad says he knew the INSTANT he laid eyes on me he would marry me...I took a little more convincing ;) 

(This was just a couple months after we started dating)

Our 2 years of dating were SO MUCH FUN - trips to Atlanta to visit Valerie and Rob, Auburn games, days on the lake, late night phone calls, dreaming big about our future, learning about each other, and falling in love.  Oh, how very carefree the days were!!  Our 8 years of marriage have been a learning experience (FOR SURE!!), and is nothing like I ever thought it would be...but, how thankful I am that the Lord has given us every single experience to make us who we are today!! 

I can not believe we have been together 10 YEARS - a whole DECADE!!!  Man, Brad is getting O-L-D!!! HA!

I love you, Bradley...thank you for loving me, believing in me, praying for me, laughing with me, and sharing this life with me for the past 10 years!!!  You're my favorite :)

A Beautiful Summer Wedding

This weekend, I had the pleasure of doing the floral designs for a sweet bride in Guntersville.  The color scheme - pink, lime, and cream.  She LOVES flowers, and adores "Old South" heirloom kinds of flowers - peonies and hydrangeas were the 2 stars of the show!  And, as any good Southern lady should, she loves monograms - so we did moss covered "W"s on the front door for her new last name.

I used lots and lots and lots (did I say lots??) of green moss on the containers to keep the focus more on the flowers than the containers themselves.  This little topiary arrangement was on the Bride's Book table in the foyer of the church.

More monogrammed sashes were used on the Mother's and Grandmother's reserved seats - my mom makes these (she's the best!!!)

The rest of the pews in the center aisle had a mix of hydrangeas arrangements in the cone shaped baskets.

These candelabras do not belong to me, but I absolutely love them!!  They are real rusty looking, and just look like an antique, but are really not.  My daddy and engineer-minded husband were discussing how we could have some made - I sure hope that works out! :)

The reception was at Dream Ranch which sits on top of the mountain overlooking the lake - isn't the view just beautiful??!!

Arrangement in the foyer - lots and lots of beautiful pink peonies!!

 

The mantle inside...

I only added the flowers to the cake, but I had to show it to y'all - it's hard to see in the picture, but those shiny circles on the cake were broaches!!  It was absolutely gorgeous!

Mantle outside...

And, I could just shoot myself, but I got busy and did not get any pictures of the bouquets!!!!!  Since the amazing Bentley Gray was the photographer for the wedding, maybe I can get some pictures and share - Lindsey, maybe you can work on that ;)...



Flowers!

When the back of my vehicle is filled to the brim with fresh cut blooms it can only mean one thing - a wedding is this weekend!! And, when your using flowers in shades of pinks, lime, and white with names like 'Annabelle', 'Royal Blush', and 'Virginia' it's sure to truly be a Southern summer wedding!!

Check back on Monday for some shots of the wedding!

I'm Still Here...

So, when did I become this post once a week (or less) kind of blogger??!! Y'all, I'm tired of hearing my excuses, and I know you must be completely fed up with my slacker attitude! My heart and mind haven't been clear and focused enough to post anything lately, and to be honest sometimes things have to be put on the back burner because *gasp* as much as I try to be I have come to the conclusion that I'm not superhuman and can do it all. ;).

And, as if post slacking wasn't enough I have been camera slacking as well! *HUGE gasp*. I know it's hard to believe...

But, Brad and I upgraded to iPhones recently (LOVE them!!) and I have at least had sense to snap some pics with my phone - yea! So, since we need to do some catching up, here's a little glimpse into our lives recently....

We went to the final season of the Atlanta Passion Play - phenomenal!!

This cracks me up every. Single. Time. I look at it (and, my mother will ring my neck for posting it) but this is sooo my Daddy!

Sweet Ellie Jane :)

Our oldest of the Favorites - Kailey - turned 7!!!!! Wow!

My precious friend Kim and I having lunch...what a sweet blessing she is in my life!! Love you, Kimmy!!

GORGEOUS purple peonies...

May was quite the month for flowers and weddings....

And, more weddings and flowers...

(and, did I mention we did 2 weddings in 1 day - that's a whole post within itself!!)

Oh the sadness of the current non working order of our pool :(. I sent this pic to our insurance, and the good news is we will be up and running with a beautiful, tear free liner in a few short days! Woohoo!

A full post about this is soon to come, but oh the work that Brad and I have done in our yard!!

Well friends, that's a little smidge of what has been going on in the world of the Powell's! I hope life is good for all of you, and your enjoying summer as much as I am! I'll be back soon...

What time is it??????

It's SUMMER TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hallelujah, and praise the Lord!!!  I don't think I could have made it another day...

I'm not a High School Musical fan or anything, but this video and song cracks me up, because it is EXACTLY how I felt counting down the last minutes of the school year...I was basically like the little guy break dancing down the hall ;) 




YEA for summer vacation!!!!!