My Best Friend's Wedding

Jared, Peyton and I traveled to Tallahassee this weekend to see my best friend, Casey, get married! This was Peyton's very first road trip out of town and we didn't want to go through all the hoopla of spending the night away from home with her, so we decided to just go over for the day and come back that same night. I was super nervous about traveling that far in the car with her, but it actually went pretty well. We didn't need to stop nearly as much as I thought we were going to have to and we made pretty good time. She was very well behaved during the wedding too and basically slept the entire time, so mommy had time to catch up and visit with her friends.

We had a great time celebrating Casey and Tom and the wedding was a perfect representation of them. Plus, I got to meet baby James for the first time which was super exciting. I wish them the very best as they embark on this new life journey together.

 It was great to be reunited with these amazing ladies that I'm so blessed to call my sisters. 

Peyton's first road trip to Tallahassee!

 All dolled up in our monogrammed dress for Auntie Casey's wedding!

The ceremony and reception took place at the Tall Timbers Research Station and Land Conservancy which is basically out in the woods almost to the Florida-Georgia state line. I loved it, especially with all the little rustic details that Casey used to highlight the Southern charm of the venue. I had no idea this place even existed, but it was beautiful. The perfect location for a good 'ole country wedding!

 Peyton's very first wedding and she basically slept through the entire thing. Mommy win. 

 Phi Mu love :) 

 Phi Mu sisters and now mommies together!

Peyton (1 month old), James (12 weeks old), Preston (6 months old)

Congratulations to my Phi Mu sister and very best friend. I love you. LIOB

Ahoy, It's a Boy

This past Saturday, we threw a baby shower for my best friend, Casey, in Tallahassee. She is due on Easter, only about 7 weeks ahead of my due date, and I am so excited that we are both having babies around the same time and embarking on this journey together! The baby shower was so much fun and I especially loved getting to spend time with some of our Phi Mu sisters.

Casey and I met on the front lawn of Phi Mu on Bid Day back in 2005. Both of us came to FSU not really knowing anyone, and from the moment I heard her start talking I knew we were probably going to be friends. Being from Dixie County, Casey had a deep southern twang and a small-town conservative way about her. I could tell she was my kind of people and we instantly bonded. Plus, when she really got to talking, her super southern-speak would come out and most of the other girls in our pledge class couldn't understand what the heck she was talking about. Since my dad is originally from South Georgia, I grew up around all those little southern-isms so I always understood her completely. For the past 9 years, our bond of friendship and sisterhood has been ever growing. We started as strangers, a little recruitment fate made us sisters, and now we have become life-long friends.

In honor of our "meet cute" and our notorious tendency to do everything together in college, we decided that it would be funny to take maternity photos together in our Bid Day t-shirts. I'm sure that no one in Phi Mu ever intended for Bid Day shirts to be worn over baby bumps, but leave it to us to do something this ridiculous.

 Sisters, best friends, and now mommies!

Casey at 35 weeks and me at almost 28 weeks

That Bid Day t-shirt was definitely a tight squeeze, considering mine is a size small and it's been washed like 1,000 times and I'm probably about 30 pounds heavier in this photo then I was on Bid Day.

We sure have come a long way since Bid Day 2005

Now, on to the actual shower. I was in charge of decorations because we all know that my crafting/decor abilities far out weigh my cooking skills. Casey has decorated "little dude's" nursery in a nautical theme so I thought we could incorporate that into the shower as well.

This diaper cake was my pride and joy of the shower. Many hours of labor and 160 diapers later, this masterpiece emerged. I actually had a lot of fun making this diaper cake, so much in fact that I took pictures along the way of how I made it. The blogger in me couldn't resist the opportunity for a tutorial blog post (read here!) on how to make a diaper cake.

I made this banner as well, which was fun and super easy...much less time consuming than the diaper cake. It is being featured in a how to tutorial here on the blog. (Read the post here!)

The other hostesses did a great job preparing all the amazing food, included some delicious treats (like chili and pulled pork) not pictured on the table here.

Casey and her shower hostesses

 The proud soon-to-be parents!

Casey with my family

 It's getting a little difficult for us to pose in pictures together because our bellies get in the way. 

Congratulations Casey and Tom! We can't wait to meet little dude!

Weekend Recap

I must say, we had a very nice weekend here in the Roche household. We got to celebrate my fabulous mama's birthday and my best friend got engaged! Congratulations Casey and Tom!!! Happy Birthday Mommy!

Aside from all that celebrating, we also participated in the community walk for suicide prevention called Out of the Darkness. We formed a team in memory of my dad and we all walked the 3 mile route through Downtown Jacksonville together. I was thrilled to have so many different people supporting us on our team, family, friends, our church small group, and Phi Mu sisters, it was amazing. So many of our other friends and family sponsored our team with a donation if they couldn't be at the walk with us. Our team raised almost $700!! Thank you so much to everyone who supported us in some way in this endeavor.

 Jared and I at the walk

 With our church small group, The FLOC

The family...even the bird dogs came along for the walk

Cocoa Beach

Last week, I went on a little vacation with my bestie. Casey had to go to Cocoa Beach for a work conference that she was in charge of planning. Her boyfriend couldn't go with her and she was staying on the beach, so I quickly volunteered to be her date :) 

I think her colleagues were mildly terrified of us. Her co-workers from her office already think that she is a crazy, OCD, organization freak in high heels. Well, then there were two of us. Majority of the people there kept asking us if we were biological sisters. Nope, we just share a brain.

We arrived in Cocoa Beach on Tuesday afternoon to this fabulous oceanfront view from our room. 

Good thing I was shacking up with the official organizer of this conference so I could enjoy the VIP treatment. Free cheese and wine in our room upon arrival? Yes, please.  

First thing on our agenda? Beach. I had no shame in immediately handing my phone to Casey's boss and making him take this photo of us posing with our cocktails on the beach. I'm sure he was amused :)

The next day, Casey's conference went on a little field trip to Kennedy Space Center for a behind the scenes tour. I managed to sweet talk my way on to the tour even though I wasn't technically attending the conference. It's good to be friends with the person planning the conference :)

We got to visit a ton of cool facilities that normal people don't ever get to visit. We got to walk out onto the launch pads, ride down the runway where the Space Shuttle lands, see actual rockets being built up-close, and eat in the cafeteria with the NASA employees. I love visiting historical/educational sites and this nerdy experience was definitely an awesome one.
 

Beach vacation is not complete without a delicious beer and a waterfront view. Cape Canaveral has a area near the port called "The Cove" which has some great restaurants. We enjoyed our evening out there.

In an effort to continue training for my upcoming 5k run (July 27th!), I went for an early morning run on the beach. Running on the sand was a little challenging, but the scenery was beautiful so I loved it. This was a fabulous little getaway with my best friend. Thanks Casey!

Book Club

Sometimes we all just need a good laugh. We need to read something trashy and hilarious, something that allows us to escape our troubles and simply entertain us. My best friend and I are notorious for reading a vast variety of materials. We are both obsessed with owning paper copies of books (screw you Kindle), and lots of them. The 3rd bedroom in my house has three 6-foot tall books shelves filled with books. And on said bookshelf, I might have a copy of the Bible, next to a copy of Ernest Hemingway (I own every book he has ever written, so he shows up a lot in my personal library), next to a copy of Harry Potter. I don't discriminate, I read everything. There is a time and a place for every type of literature. Right now in my life, I am in the mood to read something mildly inappropriate and laugh out loud funny. Alas, a care package arrived in the mail from my best friend with some books she has recommend for my current state of being. Which brings me to the fine piece of literature I am sharing today...

Today I'm sharing...

Here is a synopsis/review of the book from Amazon: 

After winning Southern women's hearts with her SEBA bestseller Bless Your Heart, Tramp in 2000, Rivenbark has penned a new-and equally sidesplitting-collection of essays, offering Northern and Southern sisters alike a woman's "take on those irksome little yuks in daily life." Although she warns certain readers (Yankees, namely) that they may need a Southern lexicon to decipher her folksy, down-home prose style, Rivenbark's focus on familiar topics like family, relationships and child rearing should appeal to most females, regardless of geography or age. Marked by a feisty, sarcastic tone and tempered with plenty of cries of "yoo hoo" and "Well, shit," even chapter titles (e.g., "Stop Watching Your Plasma TV and Start Selling Your Plasma: How to Become Honest-to-Jesus White Trash" and "Here Comes the Bride: Let's Just Get 'Em Hitched Sometime Before We See the Head") don't escape the author's wry humor. The most mundane situations become laugh-out-loud scenarios. When, for example, Rivenbark is confronted by the "Pre-School Nazis" and intimidating "granola moms" at her four-year-old's school, she admits asking her daughter to lie about what she had for breakfast (a foil-wrapped breakfast bar instead of the required "scrambled eggs, a bowl of real oatmeal-the kind you have to cook on top of the, uh, you know, stove-two slices of whole wheat toast and a glass of soy milk"). Rivenbark is a hoot, and her book will be best enjoyed while listening to the Allman Brothers Band and eating "a plate of, what else? collards and cornbread."

My thoughts...

I loved this book. I literally laughed out loud throughout the entire thing. If you are truly a Southern lady, you need to read this book. Her observations and witty sarcasm are so spot on, honest and no-holds-barred that you can't help but laugh because you know that she is so right. Warning to all you Yankee folk out there, you probably will find this book trashy, stupid and offensive so better to not waste your time. This book is written as a collection of essays so it is quick and easy to read at any given time. It is a perfect read from your beach chair or your couch with a glass of wine (perhaps some Boone's Farm?) in hand. Don't worry, when you finish this one there are plenty more where that came from. Rivenbark wrote a whole series of these books, complete with even more hilarious and inappropriate stories and titles as this one. 

Catch Up

I have absolutely zero exciting/important things to be blogging about right now. Plus, I kind of fell off the blogging wagon for the past week or so. My bad y'all. So let's play a little catch up...

Two weeks ago my bestest best friend, Casey, came in town. While the reason for her visit was a sad one (sorority sister's dad's funeral), I was still super excited to get to spend some time with her. Since she was visiting, I convinced Jared that we should go have some cocktails in downtown St. Augustine.

I finally broke down and got some nice running shoes. I got them fitted for my feet and everything. They are super fancy. It's amazing the difference a good pair of shoes can make in your running. Plus, they are neon colors...like glow in the dark neon. So between these shoes and my collection of brightly colored Nike running shorts, I look like something out of an 80's workout video. My neighbors appreciate it :) 

Our friends, Josh and Heather, are getting married in 3 weeks! Jared and I are both in the bridal party and we can't wait for the wedding day. Last weekend, Heather's matron of honor threw them a couples bridal shower/stock the bar party. Here are some pictures from the party...

Heather with her bridesmaids

Heather and Josh with their groomsmen (missing one)

Kappa Sigma Wives Club!

19 and Crazy

Today is my best friend's birthday! I am so lucky to have such an amazing Phi Mu sister, former roommate, maid of honor and partner in crime to call my friend. We have been through a lot together in these past 7 years and it has been such a blessing to have you in my life. LIOB

Happy Birthday Casey!

And now, I would like to dedicate this song to my bestie...hopefully, she is going to blare it nice and loud from her cubicle at work so that everyone knows it is her birthday :)