Another check mark for the to-do list!

Yesterday, Kevin and I met for lunch as we sometimes do since our offices are so close (on the same road!).  We met with a purpose yesterday.  We had an appointment with our jeweler who helped Kevin design my engagement ring.  This was our second appointment with her to look at wedding bands.  We have been busy looking around at options, but decided to purchase our bands with Brittany at Ascot Jewelers.  She has been such a joy to work with and we are so excited that we have taken this step with her to help us along the way! My band of course matches my ring and Kevin's matches his personality so very well! We are so thrilled to have done this together and check it off the wedding "to-do" list!

Note: These are not our rings- just loved how cheesy this is!

We are headed to Alma, Georgia this weekend as usual for Kevin's family gathering on his mother's side.  I am looking forward to all the Southern food!  I am currently in the process of making a mile high 8 layer hummingbird cake! I have never made this recipe before, so wish me luck as I cut the 4 cake layers into eight tonight before I frost the cake! The recipe is from Oxmoor house which is affiliated with where I used to work (myrecipes.com) Hopefully it will look like this:

Recipe:

Ingredients

• 1 (8-oz.) can crushed pineapple in juice
• 2 (18.25-oz.) packages white cake mix (we tested with Duncan Hines)
• 2 (3.4-oz) packages vanilla instant pudding mix
• 6 large eggs
• 2 1/2 cups milk, divided
• 2 cups canola oil
• 4 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 (4-oz.) white chocolate baking bar, finely chopped (we tested with Ghirardelli)
• 1 cup flaked sweetened coconut
• 2 cups chopped pecans, toasted
• 2 cups chopped banana (about 3 medium)
• White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
• Garnish: toasted pecans

Preparation

• 1. Preheat oven to 350°.
• 2. Drain pineapple, reserving juice for another use. Squeeze pineapple well using several thicknesses of paper towels to remove excess moisture.
• 3. Combine cake mix and next 7 ingredients in an 8-qt. mixing bowl. Beat at low speed with an electric mixer 2 minutes; beat at medium speed 3 minutes. Fold in pineapple, white chocolate, and next 3 ingredients. Pour batter into 4 greased and floured 9-inch round cake pans.
• 4. Bake at 350° for 34 to 36 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes. Remove from pans to wire racks, and cool completely. Wrap and chill cake layers at least 1 hour or up to 24 hours.
• 5. Using a serrated knife, slice cake layers in half horizontally to make 8 layers. Place 1 layer, cut side up, on cake plate. Spread with 1/2 cup White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting. Repeat procedure 6 times. Place final cake layer on top of cake, cut side down. Spread remaining frosting on top and sides of cake. Cover; chill in refrigerator overnight. Garnish, if desired. Store in refrigerator.
• Note: Cover cake in an airtight container and freeze up to 1 month in advance. Thaw in refrigerator overnight before serving.
• Test Kitchen Tip: To prepare a 4-layer White Chocolate Hummingbird Cake instead, use half of all ingredients in both cake and frosting recipes. Follow cake recipe as directed in Steps 1 through 4, except use only 2 greased and floured 9-inch round cake pans. In Step 5, slice the 2 cake layers in half horizontally to make 4 layers. Follow White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting recipe as directed except microwave white chocolate morsels in Step 1 for only 1 1/2 minutes. Assemble cake as directed. Both the 8- and 4-layer versions of this delicious cake slice best after they have chilled overnight.

Oxmoor House
MARCH 2008

Happy Memorial Day weekend to ALL! Safe Travels!

Security

Sorry for the major incovenience but I have been prompted to secure this blog as I give out a ton of personal information and I don't want randoms knowing every detail about my life! I have selected a list of people who I think follow the blog from conversation.  I will add more invites to read the blog as I go and get requests, but I felt I had to do this to protect myself.  Thank you all for following along! It's been so much fun and I love documenting the process!

XOXO,
Andra

Less than a year out...

We are less than a year out and things couldn't be more crazy. The wedding planning has progressed slowly over the past two weeks.  May has been quite a busy month for us.  We were up in GORGEOUS Lake Toxaway for for the first two weekends of May celebrating my Mom's birthday and Mother's Day, and I just got back from New York for work on Friday evening.  It was a weird realization that I would not be spending my Mom's birthday with her next year as Kevin and I will be on our honeymoon.  We enjoyed a lot of family time and explored some amazing new hiking trails at Gorges State Park. 

New York was a blast, but it really made me appreciate living in Atlanta.  I was very happy to come home!  I went alone for business and had hoped that Kevin would join me, but we never got it to work out.  Unlike others, I don't mind eating by myself or traveling by myself.  I went up Wednesday afternoon for meetings that started on Thursday, so I found myself with an open evening in New York.  What's a girl to do? I luckily was staying at the InterContinental Times Square, literally a block away from the theater district.  I made my way to TKTS and scored a 50% off ticket to Phantom of the Opera!  Kevin was quite jealous as that is his favorite play.  It was awesome and a great evening! (solo traveling is not so bad when you have a theater right outside your hotel!)

Yesterday Kevin and I ventured to one of my favorite Atlanta entertainment spots, the Dekalb Farmer's Market.  Kevin had not visited and he was quite intrigued by all the food!  It is really quite a site.  If you ever come visit, it's somewhere I will take you- just for fun!  We came home and made lobster tails for dinner together- something about cooking in the kitchen together- quite therapeutic! 

Then we went to go see "Something Borrowed," the Emily Griffin movie I have been dyyyyying to see.  We were running a little late to our show time and me, being the anal person I am about time got a little anxious about the movie being sold out.  Kevin thought it was hilarious that I was getting so hyped up about a movie! It took us a while to find a parking spot which added to my worry that I wouldn't get to see the movie!  Thankfully, we made it in and found seats.  It was a phenomenal movie which I highly recommend.  Kevin said, "as chick flicks go, it was pretty good!"

This week will be pretty fast as I have a team building day on Tuesday for work.  The two options for the day that our team voted on were:
a) Braves game and lunch
b) Lunch outside and each person receives $20 to "pay it forward" in some form or fashion
I voted for option b as I really love the idea of "paying things forward."  As of Friday there was a tie 7-7 on the selection.

Mom will hopefully be in town this weekend to finalize my wedding dress selection.  I am so excited about this as I have narrowed down some GORGEOUS dresses!

Why is it that time goes by so much faster lately?