Sweet Sixteen

Hey y'all!!  I feel like all I have done the past several weeks is tell y'all about flowers and parties...and, well...that's been a lot of what my time has consisted of!!  This past weekend, I got to plan and decorate for a super duper fun party - a SWEET 16 SURPRISE party for my sweet Meg that is in our youth group at church!!  Her mom gave me the date and the color scheme, and left the decorating up to me.  Everything was in bubblegum pink, black, and white, with lots of zebra and polka dot prints...and what better way to welcome everyone to the party than with one of my infamous tulle rag wreaths :)

I found black and white polka dot and zebra pattern balloons - SO CUTE!! 

We wanted the party to be super girly, and no other flower is more FUN and girly than gerber daisies - in shades of pink and white of course!  It's hard to tell, but the flowers were arranged in moss covered purse containers...love these - I think they would be adorable for bridesmaids to carry for a real casual wedding (my wheels are already turning...)

We set up a table for the guest of honor and her girl friends to sit at, and then everyone else sat around the pool and porch.

We set up the food tables on the porch, and had lots and lots of these big pink Chinese lanterns hanging everywhere - these are so eye catching and super cheap but make a statement.  I've done several black and pink themed parties, so I already had the polka dot cloths and lots of fun serving pieces that we were able to use...

And, of course the best way to celebrate a SWEET 16 birthday is to have a SWEETS table!  I made the little sign and black and white jelly bean arrangements with pink rock candy suckers instead of using flowers on this table, and we had Meg's favorite candy, cookies, and of course her cake...

And, YES she was very SURPRISED!! :)  Happy birthday, Meghan...hope you had a very happy SWEET 16!! :)

80 Years Young

A couple of weeks ago, I did some floral designs for a very special lady's 80th SURPRISE birthday party.  Mrs. Dot Brasher is known and loved by most people in our community - she was a teacher for many, many years and who most say was the best teacher they ever had.  I was honored to be a part of this very special day to celebrate this milestone birthday!! 

The surprise party was a Garden Party, and I chose flowers that had an heirloom look to them - I wanted them to look like flowers my grandmother used to grow along the edge of her vegetable garden.  I used zinnias in vibrant shades of pinks, orange, and yellow as well as hydrangeas and snapdragons...

And, I did fresh cut in water so they looked like they came straight out of the garden. 

I used watering cans and old Ball jars for containers.

 

Her family had worked so hard to make it a special day, and it turned out to be a perfect garden party for a perfectly SURPRISED honoree!! 

Happy 80th Birthday, Mrs. Brasher!

God is WILD about us!!

A few weeks ago we had a WILD week of VBS at church...we learned that God is WILD about us!!

We do our VBS a little different than most churches - the teachers have one lesson that we teach every night for the whole week, and the children (Kindergarten - 5th grade) rotate to a different teacher each night.  (The preschoolers stay with their teachers through the whole week.)  It makes it fun to get to have a different group each night, and you only prepare for one lesson so you know it REALLY WELL.

My lesson was about Hannah and Samuel, and how God answered Hannah's prayer for a child (Ironic for me to teach this lesson I know!!)  And, we learned through this story that, "God gives good gifts", which was our Bible Truth for my lesson.

To make figuring out the Bible Truth and Memory Verse for the story a little more fun for the kids - I made cards with my Cricut with each word, laminated, and put Velcro on the back.  Then I had them each in gift bags and told the kids I had a special gift to share with them.  They took the bags, and had to unscrabble the words, which led to talking about God's good gifts.  They all loved it! :)

We had a great group of kids each night, and they were all so excited about VBS :)

We painted and decorated canvas bags for my craft, and the kids LOVED this!!  Great craft for a party too...

VBS was a great success - lots of children came and learned fun new songs, made some cute crafts, played silly games, made new friends, but most of all they heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ every night! 

It was a great week!!!  Thank you Mrs. Becky and Mrs. Shanna for all your hard work!!

Bailey Bash 2011

Hello friends!! Hope everyone is enjoying summer...I sure am! We have been on vacation the past 2 weeks, so I took a little break from unpacking to share a little bit about what we've been up to. If you have been reading long, you know my family has our annual Bailey Bash on the Bay the week of the 4th and it is BY FAR my most favorite week of the whole year!!

We stay at the lake with my whole extended family - aunts, uncles, cousins, and anyone else considered a "Bailey" - and we have the BEST time playing, swimming, laughing, cooking, eating, and making memories :)

All of the kids (and, Ellie too!!) are in the community Independence Day Parade - so much fun!

It was SOOO HOT, so ice cream and popsicles were a very welcomed treat :)

I love that Carolyne and Sam enjoy this week as much as us "big kids" and get to see what family is all about!! 

Each year, a sweet family friend who also is a great photographer comes to do family pictures for us - thank you Mrs. Vickie!!  This year, we did a "Team Spirit" picture since the Bailey family (with the exception of 3 misfits - but I won't name any names...HA!!) are all AUBURN FANS!!  We ARE the AUBURN Family - All In!!!   

The Auburn men...

We had a wonderful week, and were sad as usual to see it come to an end.  I hope all of you and your family had a blessed 4th as well!!   I'm so thankful to live in a country where we have the gift of freedom!!

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...