Engagement Party Success!

I threw my first engagement party this weekend. Well, I had a lot of help. It was actually hosted by 3 of us and we held it at Jarrod and my house. Whew, it was a lot of work, but it was also a lot of fun and totally worth it in the end.

As I've said before, we threw the party for my brother-in-law, JT, and his soon-to-be wife, Alysia. They actually got engaged back at the beginning of August, but we hadn't had to chance to really celebrate it and mark the occasion.

Emily, Sarah and I decided to do a fun Italian theme and we set up cafe tables with wine bottles as candle holders and vases.

We decorated with gerber daisies because they're Alysia's favorite.

I also borrowed some fat Italian chef' decorations from Jarrod's mom to put around the kitchen.

We cooked up some Italian appetizers like bruschetta and pepperoni poppers (those are authentic Italian, right?) and had baked ziti and chicken alfredo for dinner. And! Alysia's mom is a cake artist and made these amazing cupcakes!!

Each one had its own engagement ring on it! And they were in fabulous flavors like funfetti or filled with pudding!

We ended the night with a bonfire out on the deck, which was great to just sit around for a while with some of our best friends.

It's quite an ordeal hosting a party for 25 people, but I think the three of us really pulled it off. As far as I'm aware, everyone had a good time and the food all turned out pretty good. I know we didn't have a ton of it left. However, I will say it will probably be a while before I host something this big again. Yesterday morning I woke up having a slight panic attack about getting everything ready and by the time we got a couple hours into the party, I was so tired I could hardly stand.

But I am glad we got the opportunity to do this. We all love JT and Alysia and wanted to show them how much we appreciate them.

So congratulations, you two! Can't wait to add another Mrs. Hughes to the group!!

The "Mushy Stuff"

My parents have always had a wonderful, loving relationship. They set a great example for my sisters and me of what it takes to make a marriage work. They also weren't afraid of being affectionate around us and I remember we'd always cover our eyes with our hands and say, "Eww, mushy stuff!" So, in honor of Valentine's Day, here's my "mushy stuff."

This time of year always brings out all those lovey-dovey feelings, not just because of Valentine's, but because this is the week that I met my husband for the very first time. This past Wednesday was actually the 5 year anniversary of that very date. This is how our love story started out...

It was a typical Thursday night in February my sophomore year in college and I was going out with the girls (Rea and another college friend). We went to a downtown Raleigh locale that will remain unnamed (because it's way too embarrassing to put out there for all the world to see!) I won't go into all the details, but I actually had some drama going on with a couple different guys who turned up at the same place that night. So when I saw this amazingly handsome guy standing on the steps across the room, I decided to go for it and ask him to dance. (Ok - so it wasn't as much "asking" as it was "grabbing his hand and pulling him out on the dance floor." What can I say? I know what I like.) We had a lot of fun that night, and I gave him my number at the end of it.

The next day I went to Myrtle Beach with a couple of friends for a concert at the House of Blues. It's actually while I was at that concert that Jarrod first called me, but we couldn't talk too long so we said we'd get up once I was back in town. That Sunday, we came back from the beach and I had just settled down to work on a paper that I had due the next day and hadn't even started on when my friend called me and said the guys, including Jarrod, were going out to eat and had invited us. I decided the paper could wait. I remember hanging out at the restaurant and giggling about the guys with my friend when we went to the bathroom. He was so shy though, it was very endearing.

And two days later was Valentine's. I had to work that night at my restaurant job, and I won't go into all the details of that night, but let's just say that I got flowers from 3 different guys that night (none of which were Jarrod!) but at the end of the night, all I wanted to do was talk with him for hours. It was the first long, real conversation we had. It was pretty awesome. I think it was about a week after that, that my parents came out to Chapel Hill and we were having lunch and they asked me if I was seeing anyone and I remember saying, "I've got my eye on someone..."

Then 4 years later, on February 13, 2010, Jarrod and I had an amazing dinner at the Angus Barn and at the end of the night he asked me to marry him. It's a pretty good bookmark that 4 years, nearly to the date, after we met we decided officially to spend the rest of our lives together. It's been the best decision I ever made.

Family, Fun and the Fryes

This past week has been filled with family fun. I love that! Sometimes it's so hard to fit in that time spent with those who really mean the most to you.

So first, of all, I want to send out a big congratulations to the newest member of the family, my soon-to-be brother-in-law, Nate! and my big sister Beka! The future Mr. & Mrs. Frye!! It's now been a little over a week since Nate popped the question, and we've already started diving into the whole wedding process all over again (Bless my parents' hearts... it'll end up being about 17 months straight of wedding planning!) Good thing we've already got our feet wet on this whole process.

I'm so excited about being a part of a wedding that's not my own. I'll get my first experience at one of my very best friends' weddings in just about 5 weeks! I love weddings and I'm definitely looking forward to taking on a role that's not a guest, but not the bride either. Once my sister's comes around I should be a seasoned pro at this! I like that I'll have the chance to repay the favors that she did for me throughout my whole wedding planning process (however, I know that I will never do as much for her as she did for me).

Secondly, this week some of my favorite people in the world were in town from the Sunshine State! My cousins and their kids. I try to soak up every minute with them when they're in town, so we celebrated with Beka & Nate with a cook out, had the whole family over to my house for muffins and coffee, met up with some friends and my parents that evening for another cookout, then grabbed lunch together the next day (Like I said, I take advantage of every minute possible). The most exciting part of the whole weekend was hearing them seriously talk about the possibility of moving here to NC. So T & K, you can consider this my official plea to make that happen!

I probably have more respect for these cousins than just about anyone in the world. They married young, at 20 and 18, had their first child just a couple of years later, and within months, not only went through the tragedy of losing a parent, but the 2 of them stepped up and took in my cousin's half-brothers, who were 12 and 11 (I believe) at the time. Can you imagine?? A couple month old baby, and suddenly you're 20 years trying to raise 2 almost-teens! But by the grace of God, they survived, and did so beautifully! And now have another 2 children of their own.

These are the kind of people that I hope to be like someday... that I hope I'm like today. Although I pray I'm never put in a similar situation, I'd like to believe that if I was, that I'd prevail as admirably as they did (Wow, I'm getting a little choked up writing this). Now they've been married for 15 years and have the most amazing family. It's a family that I'm so proud to be a part of and hope, in the future, to be able to spend more times with them like this past weekend.