Wonderful Weddings, Part I

It is that time of the year again, yes, you guessed it, wedding season! Showers, bachelorette parties, ceremonies and receptions. We have had several friends over the past few months become engaged or married so I will share a little about each of them and there events in this post. The first blushing bride is my wonderful coworker, Kate Woods Bartlett, who was married on March 26 in Auburn and had her reception at the beautiful Fountain View Manor. Leon and I made the short drive to Auburn and attended the wonderful ceremony, where Jack, Kate's now husband, looked at her adoringly the entire time. It was so romantic and you could see the love between the two of them over-flowing. Following the ceremony, everyone made there way across town to Fountain View Manor, where we enjoyed delicious food, wonderful specialty drinks, a fabulous band and a wonderful time with all the other guests.



The beautiful bride
and handsome groom.



Ths picture says it all!



All of these event occured within a few weeks of each other, so forgive me for not having them in order or for not having a date at all. Several months ago, my freshman college roommate, Courtney Luster, became engaged to her wonderful fiance, Chris Hanchey. Their friends and family helped them celebrate this wonderful occasion with an engagement party held at a family member's home in Courtney's hometown of Wetumpka, AL. It was a wonderful celebration and it's always good to see Courtney and many of our other friends from our Troy University day's gone by. Courtney and Chris will be getting married on June 18 in Atlanta and Leon and I have already made our reservations to attend the big day.



The newly engaged couple
opening their gifts.



Anna & Me at the engagement party.



Now, this next one will have A LOT of pictures to go along with the story. Anna's (pictured above) little sister, Laura Tyler Patterson, was recently married to her college sweetheart, Matt Patterson. But, before the wedding was the bachelorette party! I was able to tag along with Anna, plus I knew Laura from high school so it wasn't awkward. Our trip started when Anna and I left Prattville and headed to Birmingham first to pick up Laura and several of her friends. Laura's friends bought these cute little car decals and flags to hang on the car that said things like "Bachelorette on the Loose" and "On the Prowl". It was very cute and we got several honks from others while on the road. Next, we were on to Tuscaloosa to pick up a few more girls and then on the road to NEW ORLEANS!



The bride-to-be
ready for the party!



Once we finally arrived at our hotel in NOLA, we all got settled in and enjoyed a few yummy snacks and drinks and then had the lingerie shower. Laura got lots of cute things and after we all got ready to go out and explore Bourbon Street. Now, if you've ever been to NOLA, then you know the first thing you notice about Bourbon St. is the stench! Whew, we couldn't have missed that and all the people and craziness if you tried. We spent the entire night visiting several different bars and had a great time dancing the night away.

Laura & Jessica w/ the
crazy guy's light saber.

 

The next morning after everyone slowly woke up, ate some breakfast and took showers, we all ventured out into the French Quarter. We enjoyed watching all of the street performers and artists and after filling up on some delicious Cajun food at lunch, we walked down to the river front and then eventually back to Canal St. near our hotel to catch the afternoon Mardi Gras Parade. The parade was pretty good but the funniest part was when one of the tractors pulling a float quit working and another float tried to pass and nearly ripped off one side of the other float. Eventually another tractor came to take over and all was well in the parade world.

 

All the girls!

 

Anna & Me in NOLA

Saturday evening was eventful for sure. We went to dinner at a very nice restaurant, which I cannot remember the name of at the moment, which turned out to be a bad idea. Not only did we have horrible service, our orders where wrong, food was cold and we were not very happy girls. But don't worry, we didn't let this get us down for very long. We picked back up where we had left off the night before and had one final night of fun on Bourbon St. We visited several more bars and Laura was even sung to by the piano players at Howl at the Moon. And of course, we couldn't have ended the night without some pizza from one of the many pizza places along Bourbon St. Sadly, all good things must come to an end and Sunday we all packed up and headed back home.

Me, Laura, Anna & Lynn

Now, the fun doesn't stop there, in April, Laura and Matt said "I Do" at a beautiful ceremony at Frazer United Methodist Church, followed by an elegant reception at the Capital City Club. There was a ton of delicious food and a great band that everyone danced the night away to played all evening. It was a wonderful start to a beautiful life together for Matt and Laura.

These are several of the weddings and wedding related events we have been to so far this year. There are more to come but I figured this blog is already long enough, so I'll save the rest for another time. 

Leon & I after the
wedding with everyone
at Alley Bar.



On the Road Again...with Willie Nelson and Friends

I know people say this all the time, but I truly feel as though 2011 has flown by. Here we are almost to June! My little sister Catherine is about to finish her first year of high school, several of my friends are having babies this year and Leon and I just celebrated our second wedding anniversary. My how time does fly! But trust me, 2011 has not been wasted. We have packed a lot into this year already.

In February, Leon won tickets on the radio to see Willie Nelson and Friends in concert at the Montgomery Performing Arts Center. Now, keep in mind that Leon is not a big fan of country music, but he is very good at winning things on the radio...strange talent that boy has. So, being the sweet husband he is, he knew I would greatly appreciate this concert. And a wonderful concert it was indeed. Our seats were in in the lower level and towards the middle. We had a great view and Willie put on a great performance. Toward the very end of the show, I walked down front to snap a few up-close pictures. I was able to get several great shots. Willie even signed autographs for anyone and everyone at the end of his concert. I thought that was such a nice thing, considering how unappreciative many artists tend to be now-a-days. Way to go Willie! Thanks for showing us there are still a few nice guys left out there in the world.

Back in early March was the 40th anniversary of the Gamma Sigma chapter of Alpha Gamma Delta at Troy University. This coincided with the International Reunion Day. Basically, this all means that all of the Alpha Gamms from Troy of years past gathered together for a luncheon and formal later that evening. I went to Troy that Friday night, after flying in from Ohio, and stayed with my wonderful pledge sister and close friend Emily Lytle Maddox and our other best friend Anna Tyler Goldman. We had a great time catching up, even though the three of us talk pretty regularly, and visiting with all of our other sisters during the luncheon. We all had other things to get home to, so we did not get to go to the formal, but hopefully we will be able to make it for the 45th reunion! I cherish these times with my friends and sorority sisters because you don't realize how much you miss them until you get to spend time with them again. Thanks girls for always being my rock throughout the years.


How generous is God that he has given me
 these few and special
women who are the true friends
of my heart...



Christmas and New Year's

Christmas morning!

I can't forget to mention Christmas and New Year's before I move on to 2011. This is probably one of my favorite times of the year, plus, I'm off of work for two weeks, so that's a nice bonus! Christmas is always a wonderful time to me. It's about the love of God for all of us, family, friends and so much more. On Christmas Eve every year we always go to the Christmas Eve service at our church, Taylor Road Baptist Church, and sit with our family. My Mom loves it when we are all together like that. This year after service we went back to Mom's house. What was originally going to be just our family for a little dinner turned in to Mom, Randy, Chris, Catherine, Me, Leon, Georgiann, Kevin, Clint, Blake, Josh, and our friends Ashley and Dave. We all enjoyed a delicious dinner and time together before the craziness of Christmas day.  

Our sweet friends, Dave & Ashley.



Our Christmas Tree!

Now, on Christmas morning, Leon and I woke up and opened our presents from each other and then went over to Mom's house and opened presents with everyone there. Trust me, we're not too old for Santa either! After that we came back home and got ready and then headed to Leon's Granny's house for a delicious lunch with Leon's family. After lunch there, where ventured to my grandparent's house in Wetumpka and visited with everyone for a little while. At this point, there was no room left for any more food! But we definitely took home some yummy leftovers.

Penny enjoying her Christmas gift.




Leon & Me Christmas morning.

 

Mom at the beach!



After some much needed recovery from our food acomas, Leon and I ventured to Santa Rosa Beach, FL for a few days with my parents. Mom and Randy took their camper to Top Sail State Park Preserve, which is absolutely beautiful! We spent several days taking it easy, shopping, eating great seafood, and just having a good time and no agenda.

New Year's Eve

For Christmas we received a gift card from my grandparents to Outback, which can also be used at Carraba's, Fleming's and several other places. There was a Fleming's in Destin, so we decided to try it out. It was definitely delicious, but let's just say we did not have any money left on the gift card after that meal! We also did some majoy after-Christmas shopping at the Silver Sands Outlet Mall and bought some new clothes with our Christmas money. On New Year's Eve, Mom and I rode bikes into Santa Rosa and grabbed a coffee and The Gossip Parlor and then headed back to the campground. Later that evening we met up with several friends at Harbor Walk for dinner and fun for New Year's Eve! We even got to watch two fireworks shows, one around 9:00 for all the kids and then another one at midnight! We had a great time, the only downside to this trip, was I returned home with the FLU! Yes, the flu! I have never felt so terrible in my life. Believe you me, I WILL be getting my flu shot from now on. I never want to feel so horrible again. Other than that, the trip was great!

Hollie & Me