Bridal Shower Fun

I was lucky enough to have two AMAZING bridal showers!
The first was hosted by my beautiful bridal party at The Wine House in Fairfax, Virginia.

With Holly! My wonderful Maid of Honor! 

My Mom, Tory, Krista, Tricia, and me! I worked with Tricia and Tory at the RNC during the last cycle and miss working with them sooo much!  

Me, Holly, Kim, Virginia, Aunt Val, and Heather! 

Holly, Kim & Virginia were a part of my bridal party and were kind enough to host this fun shower

The whole group! Since we are at a public location I wanted to keep the shower small and intimate. Just some of my favorite girls sharing some great wine and laughs!  

I received some great gifts at my shower. Showers are a great time to branch out and give the bride gifts that  are not on their registry but fit their personality! Like this beautiful crystal dish from Tiffany & Co. I currently have this dish on my coffee table with some chocolates that I brought home from Belgium. 

These cookie cutters, from Crate and Barrel, were on my registry and I LOVE THEM! Emma and I put them to great use... like the egg in the heart that we made Easter morning! 

These etched wine glasses with the letter "P" were a great gift that I put to use all the time! 

  One of the most personal gifts that I received came from my wonderful twin Kim (we have the same birthday)!!! The Sign that says "PARK Established 2011" is WONDERFUL and fits perfectly in our dinning room. I can see the sign from the kitchen as well and any time I look up it makes me smile! 

Here is a photo of the sign in our dinning room! The color of the letters perfectly matches the pant that we used in that space... Like I said it is the perfect fit! 

And... while I stuffed some yummy food in my mouth we played a game... two lies and a truth... 

Here are some of the things that were declared about me... Can you spot the two lies. 

1. Julie bought a wedding dress and cut off the bottom

2. Julie assisted in taking a 5 foot trophy from a bar

3. Julie bought Matt a snowman bow tie for Christmas

4. Julie likes to dance in elevators late at night 

5. Julie has had to go to the hospital for getting Magnets stuck up her nose

6. Julie went poll dancing during the Republican National Committee

Easter Decorations

If you know me well you know that there are two things that I LOVE to do... decorate and entertain! With Easter tomorrow I figured I should share the decorations that you can currently find in our house. 

Here is our dining room table. The blue dishes are from Homegoods (purchased last summer) 

   

These are glass containers left over from our wedding centerpieces that I filled with plastic eggs from the Dollar Store. 

Mr. Bunny is a new addition this year. I found him at TJMaxx for only $9.99 and knew that he would be perfect by the fireplace. 

  

Here is Mr. Bunny next to his big basket of Easter books 

 Here is a full view of the fireplace. The multi-colored eggs/bunnies on the fireplace spell out EASTER... and what are those darling baskets on top of the mantle??? 

Well those are the flower girl baskets from our wedding. They are birch baskets with M+J carved into the front. I love them so much that I HAD to use them for Easter decorations!  

No blog would be complete without a picture of our little Emma. Here she is with some beautiful spring tulips in the background. I love that all of the flowers are starting to bloom!

Tomorrow we have another couple coming over for Easter Dinner and I will be sure to take some photos and share what I cooked!

Wedding Photos

I am happy to announce that we have just recieved our wedding photos and I cannot wait to share all of the details of our special day.

I know that I already shared some highlights from our wedding here but there were so many other details that went into our special day.

Here is a breakdown of what you will see in the next two weeks!

Monday: Bridal Shower Fun
Tuesday: Ceremony Rehearsal and Rehearsal Dinner
Wednesday: Wedding Day Prep
Thursday: Wedding Ceremony
Friday:Wedding Reception

Next week I am going to dive into some of the smaller details from my wedding:

Monday: Choosing my vendors
Tuesday: Wedding checklist
Wednesday: Welcome Boxes for out of town guests
Thursday: Wedding Stationary and Other Small Details
Friday: Family Staged Photos

And here is a new photo... Much more to come!!!

Brussels

Last week I went to Brussels with work. I was only there for two nights and spent a majority of my time at NATO but here are some photos from the one night we did manage to go into the main city!

We arrived in the City via the train

We had to try the waffles in the station! Cannot go to Belgium and not have a waffle! 

The outside of the train station 

 Yummy Steak for everyone

and even yummier 

  

 

Mother of a Seven Year Old!!

I cannot believe that I am the mother of a seven year old! YES, my little Emma Olivia turned seven last week. It seems like just yesterday she was taking her first steps and now she is rolling down the street on her skateboard to play with the neighborhood kids down the street.

Here are some photos from her birthday.

She's ready for the pool!

 Going out to skateboard

Spy Gear

Fun with Friends