March Madness

Crazy to think that I am almost DONE with Physician Assistant School!  As of May 5, 2012 I will be an official graduate and maybe even might blog more than I do now.  I am finally leaving almost full time with James in Niceville, Florida - it is so wonderful to be together after being so far from each other for the past 6 months.  Adjusting to having a non-school life is slowly but steadily happening and it feels so wonderful to be back in a church family!

As it seems to be something that happened to much this year, James and I's family decreased by 1 when my sweet german shepherd Callie passed away right before Christmas.  It was sudden but did not come as a total surprise to James and I.  I just had this feeling, this peace that it was getting close to her time.  She could not do all that she used to love to do and I feel like it was making her sad.  She had lived with James for 3 months and I am so glad I was able to spend 6 more weeks with her before she went.  She was with me since I was 16 and was a best friend/wonderful protector.  James and I envision that she is now taking care of River where she can run and swim all she wants!

Recently James and I have had some wonderful things come into our life plan.  We have been living with my wonderful parents since December in order to save up to pay for the house we are building in Niceville, FL! We know it is completly the Lords doing because it could not be the better lender, builder and realtors.  We feel so blessed and excited to start this new chapter of our lives.  It is definetly testing my faith because I am fully relying on the Lord to provide the perfect job for me in the area.  I have no doubt he will out due my highest expectations because He always seems to do that in all things when I least expect it.  It is truly a fun process picking out brick and cabinets and floor plans.  It is in a new subdivision called Arrowhead and is located smack dab in the heart of Niceville.  I'll keep you updated with pictures as they come along!

Another huge event in Kaet's life happened this past weekend when my best friend since kindergarten (yes same class and all) Mandi, got married to a wonderful man!  I was so excited when she asked me to help make her day a special and memorable day.  Funny how I keep doing weddings, maybe I picked the wrong career choice...thats really funny...but just a joke!  She swears I should open my own etsy.com shop...I told her SURE with all the time I have - but we shall see.  Her theme was rustic romance and that is exactly what it portrayed from custom made (by me) table runners to simple babies breath, wild daisy and aster daisy bouquets, lots of birch candles and then more burlap it turned out perfect!  Best thing is she and her hubby live close to James and I so we get to continue to watch them through their newlywed phase! How fun!

 

Well for now, I'll just be studying away! Here's some more recent pictures of James and I and our little 1 year old puppy (he celebrated in February) Coal man living a very beachy life in good ole Florida

Love, Joy and Peace!

James, Kaet and Coal

Fall Leaves brings wonderful Change

I'm still learning this whole blog idea but I do like to keep updating it -As always in the ever changing life of James and Kaet - there has been many changes since May. 

James has now been working at Niceville United Methodist Church in Niceville, FL as the Recreation Minister for almost 6 full months.  It has been such a blessing for his heart and his passions. We found the perfect townhouse literally 2 minutes from work - so James can ride his bike or walk to work...something he enjoys tremendously.  He recently also traded his truck for a 1997 Navy Jeep Cherokee - James being the incredible husband he his, decided to knock off a car payment and trade for something that left up debt free! It has been a fun transition seeing that it's standard and I haven't driven one of those in forever - Many adventures to come I am sure of it :)

I'm currently located in Paducah, KY staying with a great friend in PA school.  I have been here for 2 months, sleeping on an air mattress while I finish out my mandatory rotations for my clinical year in the PA Program.  I have earned a new appreciation for all of the wives who live without their husbands on a consistent basis.  Often I feel as if I am missing a body part being away from James - How quickly I realized how James and I underappreciate our relationship!  We truly were taking for granted having each other "there" physically every day and now appreciate it so much more.  Thanks to Jesus and some wonderful doctors in Florida, I will be able to relocate home Nov 12!  I will still have to bounce around a bit - I will be at home until Jan 4th - then I will be at a rotation in Jacksonville for 6 weeks (still much closer!) and then come home for 6 additional weeks and then end with a finale in Paducah, KY for 6 final weeks - I can see the end of the light at the tunnel. My roomate and friend in Paducah have kept me entertained while I have been away from James though - with trips to explore places such as Niceville! Heres a pic of them!

Stress still gets to me - but I throw myself into baking and lately crafting for the new house!  I have set up my crafting room at the new town house with all my sewing, crafting, painting and baking gear - Heres a look at some of my recent crafting adventures: 1st is my art desk I restored and "antiqued" that is now in the biggest closet in the so called man room.

 In May we also added a member to the family - We rescued him from the most wonderful animal refuge ever, Alaqua Animal Refuge near Freeport, Florida - His name is Coal and he is a blue-tick coonhound/Black Lab mix - He has grown very quickly as you might can see by the photos!

He is the sweetest and cuddlest little man in the world - He is very much a bird dog and will chase after any scent he smells right away - We are currently saving up to build both him and my sweet german shephard Callie a fence so he can chase all the squirrels he possibly can.  Coal loves the dog park in Niceville!  

Peace, Joy and Love until I can blog once more!

Kaet & James

Mr. & Mrs. Welton - 05.21.2011

Well the BIG DAY went off with out many hitches - can't say without any but that only made for more adventure.  My little Leena is married!  As promised I told you I would document the days homemade details as much as possible - AFTER doing this for my sister I would strongly discourage the Bride from doing this all herself because it would be WAY to stressful for her alone! But if you are a friend wanting to help - Plan away!

The Flowers

I had practiced and practiced but its never the same as the day of - With only a minor hitch in the order (80 gerbers short) that actually turned out to be the biggest blessing ever - the Flowers turned out beautiful and JUST what i had envisioned.

Hot pink and Green were FLASHING everywhere!  With the AMAZING help of my Aunt Karen (she made all the coursages and boutineers) we were able to accomplish all the bouquets and centerpiece daisies.  At the last minute I decided not to slice the limes because in a test run, the lime juice had been to acidic for the daisies to sit in overnight.  The flowers were refrigerated at my church in an industrial refrigerator, and i must say for anyone doing flowers on there own - THIS WAS KEY to keeping them so fresh for the day of.  If this is a challenge you desire to take on, It saved us over 800 dollars to do on our own.  We ordered wholesale through Winn Dixie in Bluewater and they were fantastic.

The Ceremony Decor

Colleen wanted the church really simple - as previously blogged - I made the pomanders for the reserved pew markers.  They ended up looking wonderful.  Originally, we had planned a fall wedding and were going to do curly willow branches with hanging crystals for the reception decor...so i had ordered 180ft of jewels BEFORE Leena changed her mind.  So i put my mind to the challenge and used them wherever I could including the aisle candles and candlebras - our church coordinator loved them so much I donated them to the church!  It added such elegance to the ceremony - instant LOVE for me!

The only live flowers we used were on the Alter candles - added real gerbers for a little pop on stage - was perfect :)  Had a lot of bubbles left from my wedding so we decided to make the exit from the church bubble filled and thanks to our amazing photographer - Kailyn Paris of K.P. Photography http://www.kpphotography.org/ we caught some amazing shots!

The Reception

Now, it was time to party.  Colleen had expressed that she wanted a cupcake wedding cake - so after MUCH practice and a LOT of eggs, flour and sugar all 200 cupcakes made it onto the homemade wedding cake blinging cupcake tower.  She also requested a homemade cheesecake for the top layer, for her and Eric to cut - so one, two, three...thank you Ina Garten for your fabulous cheesecake recipe - It was finished.  First was making the cupcake wedding cake topper - I had priced around to all the jeweled metal toppers and they were REALLY expensive....sooo I found a wooden W at Hobby Lobby for 1.00, painted it white then silver and hot glued what seemed like 1,000 but prob not rhinestones on it.

SOO the second task was to make the actual tower - After MUCH internet research on buying or renting - I decided to attempt to create my own.  I went to Home Depot and bought 1 large panel of MDF Board.  The layers required  3 20"  3 16"  2 12" square pieces which the wonderful Gentlemen at Home Depot cut out for me.  Then we bought Gorilla Glue, 7 2 1/2in pipe ends, metallic silver spray paint and 1/2 gallon of "blushing piglet" interior flat paint and 5 crystal drawer handles.

I painted each MDF Board sqaure with 3 coats of paint first and allowed to dry - as well as spray painted the PVC pipe ends with the silver.

My husband and father then drilled the door knobs into the bottom piece of MDF Board - 4 on each corner and 1 in the center for stability.  I carefully with eyes at each side measured, centered and gorilla glued the PVC pipe inbetween each layer - I forgot to say the height was 3 1/2 in tall.  After letting it dry, I worked my way up to the top layer. I did make one false calculation which we discovered in transport - DON'T be afraid to gorrilla glue like crazy - too much is always better than not enough!  SOOO the finished product was just what she wanted - We had previously made the gift boxes as "Take Home" boxes for the cupcakes - They each had their initials and date - that was a great treat for guests AND saved me from eating a ton of left over cupcakes!

The reception location was right on the beach but it still had a bar type feel to it - Colleen really wanted to make it feel dressier - sooo my brain went into to overdrive with the next idea of again using my extra beads to create a chandelier with a tent like effect over the head table and dance floor.  Thanks to some awesome hanging techniques of Dad and Hubby - IT TURNED OUT JUST like what was in my mind!

All it required was 2 different size wooden knitting hoops from Michaels - spray painted in the same metallic silver - with the same length beads hung every 2 1/2 inches.  For the fabric I used the already cut panels from Walmart, split them in half and then sewed the two halfs into one long panel - THEN tied onto the chandelier itself.  Make the room sparkle!

We found the perfect magenta table runners to match her pink decor - so all that was left was centerpiece arrangements - which varied from limes/daisey arrangements, tall hot pink funky vases and hurricane glass with white candles in hot pink or lime green candle holders.

Pink Paper lanterns framed the edges of the dance floor to add color and warmth to the room.  Anglers was the perfect end to a perfect day - I will say though, if you are getting married in Niceville and having a reception on the beach - expect traffic delays on Saturdays in May!! It was crazy, 3 wrecks on the way but it all turned out perfect. 

All of these photos except a few are from k.p. photography and I say thank you sooo much for capturing this day in such a sweet and talented way! 

At the End of the Day - I thank the Lord for blessing my sister with such an Amazing man as a Husband.  This day was a day of celebration and joy for all of our family and his.  AND it surely cemented my LOVE for wedding planning and decorating - If you need help, Let me know because I love new challenges!

The last picture on the Beach summed up the day for me - Pure JOY! Congrats Colleen and Eric!

Details, Details, Details - Wedding Planner Blog, Cont.

Like I promised...I have continued to try and blog on preparing for my sister's Big Day - May 21, 2011.  Colleen's theme is fun, artistic and somewhat like a princess as seen in pictures before.  First task that I was to complete was decorations for the church.  Hobby Lobby has been my best friend - I literally spend hours there every time I go (scary I know)! They alternate every other week their glass items 50% off, So I could purchase all the glass vases I needed for much cheaper - GREAT DEALS - but for the church colleen wanted some pink color down the center aisle.  I saw a picture of aisle decorations that I liked so I sent this to her because we had purchased this size pink paper lanterns for the reception!

Colleen said no too informal for the church - sooooo back to the drawing board.  I did some more research and found some ideas with daisies in them and then called her

She loved it! So I immediately starting researching about how much it would cost to make - The "flower balls" as I like to call them are actually pomanders.  I researched online and very quickly discovered how to make them.  Instructions say to use a gream floral foam ball and then stick the daisies inside.  I decided on 5" balls (which are never on sale at Hobby Lobby) but are only 3.99 per ball. When I practiced I needed 27 flowers (2 1/4 bouquets) which were 50% off 7.98.  So I figured that 6 balls would be plenty and would fit our price range.  When I made the first ball with the green floral foam ball I didn't love that the green would occasionally show through - So I found the PERFECT alternative option, a 5" topiary ball for the same price!  So heres How I made them

Supplies:

5" Topiary ball

30 flowers of your choice - hot pink daisies was my choice

Lots of hot glue

Ribbon - depending on how far you want it to hang - I used approx 2 feet per ball

1. First de-stem all the flowers from their bunches - the tops of the flowers should come right off
2. Take your precut ribbon and thread through the top of the topiary ball - tie a not and then pull the thred back through, so the knot is on the inside of the ball - NOW you are ready to glue
3. Take the individual daisy and choose a spot near the base of the ribbon to glue to flower - you want to cover up the knot as much as possible - spread the hot glue in a circle around the base of the flower and press down in the spot for at least 30 seconds to get it holding tight.
4. Then progress around the ball - gluing the flowers about an 1 1/2 to 2 inches away from one another - You want to not see the much of the vine inbetween - but its okay if you see a little.
5. Keep gluing away - keeping up with the glue strings as you go, makes cleaning up easier later.

And here's the finished project! 1/2 lime green ribbon and 1/2 hot pink ribbon - They will add pop to the center aisle - we will be doing every other with the pomanders and then the other 1/2 with aisle candles

Inspired by my aisle daisy pomanders - I had an idea for the flower girls! In our church we are not allowed to use real flower petals on the carpet so I thought it would be SO cute If we made them larger daisy pomanders to hold and sprinked fake rose petals in a pattern on the floor.  This time I used a larger floral greenery ball - 7" and I had to use 3 bouquets (36 daisies) - I made the ribbon shorter and added bling.  With the floral greenery ball - you must have wire cutters to trim about 2in of the stem on with the daisies - It makes them stick into the ball better and doesn't require hot glue! I then glued rhinestones into the center of each flower- Here was the finished product for our sweet flower girls!