the old fashioned lawn party

A few weekends ago my husband and I had the pleasure of driving to California for the 30th birthday of my college bestie's husband! Lauren had spent months planning the most extravagant party for her beau, fancy as can be. We all donned our best attire and prepared for the swingingest lawn party ever concocted.

We arrived a day early and were able to help set up, which was a blast. Seeing all of the thoughtful details and putting together the final touches are always my favorite parts of any party. Also, the food. That's mucho importante.

Lauren had a fantastic menu planned, which included the most incredible bacon wrapped goat cheese filled dates (okay fine, I'm biased, they're the only things I made). She also had authentic Mexican bottled Coke, shrimp cocktail, bite-sized caprese skewers, and lots of other munchies. Each table was decorated with old fashioned mini wooden table games, fresh leaves and citrus, and place settings topped with custom themed cookies. It was fantastic.

The adorable invitation was created by their friend Holly (see her Etsy page), and Lauren's little sister is the artist behind the handsome gent playing croquet. If you noticed in the photos above, they had that same jaunty caricature frosted onto the cookies on the tables as well. If you plan on having a lawn party any time soon, I'd highly recommend ordering this invite! It's perfect. 

As is appropriate for any lawn party, there were cigars for the men and a backyard oasis of lawn games. We all pitched in $5 to play the games, and whoever won the most by the end of the night won the pot! (SPOILER: my most spectacular husband nabbed that prize!). There was also a prize for best dressed, and snazzy music playing all evening to set the mood. 

The entire event was held at their aunt's house, who is one of the sweetest and most giving ladies I've ever met. She has a stunning backyard that's perfect for outdoor fiestas (Lauren also had her rehearsal dinner there!). She is a most gracious hostess. She even gave me a picture frame and some super cute rugs when we left (I think she sensed how poor we were when we were crying "we can afford to drive home! we can afford to drive home!!" when Dusty won the cash prize).

Aaron, the birthday boy, made giant dice for Yahtzee and a giant Jenga set for pretty epic game play. There was also checkers, croquet, and corn hole. It was so much fun having a large scale theme party as adults. Everyone dived in and came dressed up and got babysitters for the evening. The money pot definitely inspired people to play the games, and we all just got to let loose and have fun.

For the more casual players, blankets and quilts were set out on the lawn. It was a blessedly gorgeous day. Living in the desert, we get pretty used to having only two seasons. Summer and Winter. "Winter" is a loose term designated to weather in the 60s and 70s, and Summer basically lasts from March until Winter comes again in December. We were overjoyed when the weather was warm but cool in the shade, picture perfect for outdoor lounging and gallivanting.

The best part of it for us was being able to spend so much bonus time with Lauren, Aaron and their little boy Wesley (plus their little baby bump, who's due in September!). They met and got married after college, after we had moved off to Virginia, so this year has been our first opportunity to drive out to see them regularly and build that double-dating relationship. I loved helping out and celebrating Aaron, who has made my lovely bestie so very happy.

After hours of gaming and laughing and playfully competing, Lauren gave the signal to roll out the desserts and Aaron's dad made a lovely toast. There were macaron ice cream sandwiches (I'm not even joking), champagne, and of course cookies and cake.

Happy year 30, Aaron, and thanks for letting us come out and crash the party!

archives: jimmy jons

Happy Friday!

I decided that today would be a good day to reach back into my blogging history and pull out one of my favorite posts from my first blog, Once Upon a Wife Life. My first blog was dedicated to my friends and family while we were away in Virginia for law school. I posted a lot of personal posts, mostly to keep them updated on our lives in Lynchburg. 

Now that we're back, I've let OUAWL go, although I do need to write a few more posts there to wrap up our time in Lynchburg. All that to say: this was one of my silliest posts. It still makes me laugh. 

I first posted it on June 7th, 2012. Enjoy!

This is from our engagement session with our friend Mike. circa 2010.
He told me to be sexy. I had no idea how.
He said that the key to being sexy is to pretend you're about to say the F word.

Sometimes, I laugh out loud at myself.
It's not because I think I'm really funny (I occasionally think I'm pretty funny) but I'm just really easily entertained, and sometimes when that perfect thing comes to mind, I can hardly contain my glee at my own cleverness.

When we were in Charlotte last weekend, we went into a very high-end department store, Neiman Marcus.
They carry all of the fanciest brand names. I mean, the store name is in cursive, and it's just really obvious that it's not a place where Dusty and I regularly shop. Or ever shop.
We went around admiring the merchandise, and I could have sworn a few hefty men came cautiously in our direction just to make sure we weren't trying to steal anything.

Back off my wal-mart cardigan, dude, it's a fun color and it fits nice.

As we made our way back to the fancy menswear, Dusty began to drool over a ridiculously gorgeous pinstripe suit. It was divine. I nodded my approval, sneaking a peak at the $4,000 price tag on just the jacket. Maybe that's normal for people like Leonardo DiCaprio...or maybe that's just the kind of suit he would buy for his dog, I really don't know. For little ones like us it's a lot of money.
A well-dressed (duh) grey-haired man approached us, asking if we needed any assistance. He had a bit of an arch to his eyebrow that said he was up to no good. We told him we were just looking.

He proceeded to nod and walk back across the glistening tile to another store worker, and whispered, "Eh, just a couple of Jimmy Jons."

Now.

I don't know what that's supposed to mean. My fancy-pants radar was going off, signaling that I should be offended. But that radar is broken (I bought it at a discount) and all that resulted was a fit of giggles. Offended giggles, obviously, but it had us both cracking up, trying to imagine what they must think of us.

We then developed a string of Jimmy Jon scenarios.

Me: "Most of my pants I bought for less than $10...and that's why I'm a Jimmy Jon."
Dusty: "9 of my socks have holes in them, and that's why I'm a Jimmy Jon!"
Me: "Well, I use safety pins to keep my dress intact. Pretty sure that makes me a Jimmy Jon."
Dusty: "Our favorite restaurant is Olive Garden. That, ladies and gentlemen, is why we're Jimmy Jons."
Me: "Ha! I use my panty-hose as a pasta drainer...and that's why I'm a Jimmy Jon."
Dusty: "I buy all my groceries from the bum next door...and that's why I'm a Jimmy Jon!"
Me: "Gee whiz, our entire downstairs is courtesy of thrift stores and Craigslist. We are so Jimmy Jons."

For the record, some of these are true, and some of them are not. I won't say which are which.
I wish I could remember some of the ones we actually said that day, because we were in stitches, we were so pleased with ourselves. Suffice it to say, we're not too upset about being Jimmy Jons.

Then yesterday, I was having a conversation with my friend Becky about fitness. We were talking about getting in shape, and how important it is to keep a tight core, and feel the burn, and bladda yadda work-out jargon.

One of the items of conversation became arms. I think it's especially important to women to have toned arms. The last thing you want is for your under-arm to do a flash-dance in the middle of you waving to the next-door neighbor.
We all want sexy-toned arms.
So I said, "Oh ya. It's a must. Especially in the summertime...I mean...when I put on my new bridesmaid's dress last night, I just kept my arms spread-eagle so there wouldn't be any unwanted skin gathering."
We had a good laugh.
I told Dusty about this conversation, because I thought it was really funny.

After work that night, we stopped by the grocery store to pick up some things for a barbecue we were going to. We grabbed some beans, hamburger/hot dog buns, and then headed down the chip aisle.
A very dangerous place!
I immediately spotted the Puff Cheetos, because I love those, and have been craving them since...the last time I ate them, and realized I never wanted to stop.

This was last year. Proof of our long-standing affair.

After we checked out, I asked Dusty if I could go ahead and open the Cheetos for a pre-barbecue snack.
He said no!
I was upset.

Dusty: "You need to have self control."
Me: Rolling my eyes, "I don't want any of that."
He looks at me critically. We start to walk out the sliding doors.
Dusty: "Oh really? So, what? You just wanna be spread-eagle for the rest of your life?"

Funniest thing he's ever said to me. Except for one other thing, which I can't blog about, because it's super inappropriate.
But I thought I might pee my pants. I had to pause in the parking lot and compose myself.

The moral of the story is, when I think something is really funny, I can't. stop. laughing.
And going on a rant of hilarity is one of my favorite things to do, and I absolutely love that I have so many people in my life that allow me to be ridiculous.
Love you guys :)

Dusty, ya Jimmy Jon, I love ya.

(original post)