The Gifts.

Guess who got her wedding pictures back??? That's right folks, THIS GIRL! I got the discs on Friday night and me and the husband snuggled up on the couch with a fire blazing in the fireplace, a drink {or two three} in hand and popped those bad boys in to the PS3 so we could go through the pics on our TV. All I can say is Sara Jayne did not disappoint!!! Because we're real life buddies and she knows that I am a picture spazz she gave me a little bonus and gave me 1673 AMAZING images! Seriously...SOOOO many pictures, all of which are FAB, except of the ones of me laughing, I am not a cute laugher. AN-Y-WAYs, I have a lot of sifting and organizing to do before I can start composing these beloved wedding posts, so you're going to have to wait a little longer. But, to tide you over, here's what we did for Wedding Party gifts. 

The week leading up to the wedding the thing I was most excited about {besides the whole getting married thing} was to give our wedding party and our parents their gifts. We spent a lot of time trying to come up with creative and meaningful gifts, and I was beside myself to give them. 

The boys were actually really easy. We knew instantly what we wanted to give them. All of the boys in the wedding have a team {most college football and a couple baseball} that they are just obsessed with, like obsessed to the point where it's ridiculous. So we decided to get them all grill sets with their favorite teams on them. 

Our best man is a die hard Buckeye fan. 

The boys loved them! And hopefully they'll get a lot of use out of them.

For the girls, it took a little longer to decide on something. I knew I wanted to get them tote bags and I knew I wanted to get their jewelry for the wedding.
After a lot of searching, here's what I came up with:

I got all of the girls a zebra tote bag and had it embroidered with their first name. I chose a different font for each of the girls to really personalize it. 

 Obviously, I had to get myself one:

Then I got each of the girls a b&w polka dot makeup bag and had it embroidered with their first initial in the same font as their bag. Cute, right? 

I also grabbed a bunch of day-of essentials to fill the make-up bags: 

Gum, Lotion, Deodorant, Lint Rollers, Aleeve, Keelex, Chapstick, Shout Wipes and Bandaids

As for the jewelry, I was working at Mary Kay's Bridal and found these in one of the designer's catalogs and HAD.TO.HAVE.THEM!

horrible pic...these are way prettier in person.

They looked AMAZING with the bridesmaid's dresses and I think they girls all liked them.

Finally, my most favorite part of the gift were these personalized champagne flutes by FizzyArtist.

They were a huge hit and we used them the morning of the wedding to have a little champagne toast!

Our parents, were definitely the trickiest. We really wanted to get them something personal and meaningful but seeing as there are eight of them we had to be budget conscious. We decided we wanted to get a gift for each couple versus each individual parent. The hard part was coming up with a gift that all eight of them would love and appreciate. After a lot of thought we figured that the one thing all eight parents have in common is that they love to cook and are really good at it. We decided to compile a list of all of our favorite recipes and combine them in to a family cookbook. The hard part was getting all of the recipes...turns out our parents don't to like to share their secrets OR like to write down actual recipes. BUT, after A.LOT of begging, plotting, some stealing, cursing and cooking I was able to put together all of our favorite recipes with pictures {that was a feat all it's own}. Then we personalized each of the books by adding family pictures in between the chapters. Here's a preview of the book we did for my dad and step-mom:

Our parents absolutely loved them. All of the hard work was totally worth it once they opened them. 

What did you do or are planning to do for your wedding party?

Bizzy. Bizzy. Bizzy.

It seems like December always just flies by! With my birthday and the holidays it seems like we are running around like crazies. I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way during this time of year. Anywhoooo, here's a little recap of what we've been up to lately. 

We went to Toby Keith's I Love This Bar to celebrate my birthday with some friends. 

My darling husband took me out to Bar LaGrassa for a delicious birthday dinner! 

On my actual birthday {December 12th} we met my mom, brother and his new fiance for a birthday dinner at my favorite restaurant, Rosa Mexicano!!!

My baby sister is a Freshman in high school and is on the dance team! We are in the heat of dance season right now and I am absolutely LOVING going to all her meets to cheer her on! It brings me back to the good old days when I was on the dance team. 

Anyways, Kara {my sister} is a fabulous dancer and her team is incredible. They've been bouncing between second and third place at all the meets and this past week they got their first big WIN in their Varsity Kick routine. I was one proud big sissy. 

This past weekend J's best friend {Colin}'s little boy turned 2! I absolutely ADORE Brody. I met him the day he was born and have loved watching him grow up into the darling two-year-old that he his now! Here's my and my Brody Bear the day he was born and on Saturday at his 2nd birthday party! 

Saturday, after Brody's birthday party, J and I went downtown fore the Timberwolves first pre-season game. As I mentioned a while ago {in this POST} we are HUGE Arizona Wildcats fans, they're best player from the past two years, Derrick Williams, was drafted #2 and now plays for the T-wolves so we HAD to go see our boy in his first ever NBA game. It was a BLAST, we won and Derrick had a great game! 

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! Can we believe it's almost Christmas?!

The Thank Yous.

This is my friend Brianna...

...and she is the bomb!

Her mother-in-law works for MagnetStreet.com who manufactures high-quality magnets for businesses, weddings or personal use. They also have a HUGE selection of wedding stationary such as design your own Save the Dates, Wedding Invitations, Thank You Cards and everything in between. Brianna was able to get me the hook up and her mother-in-law was sweet enough to offer me 50% off of any merchandise!

It was really hard for me not to go absolutely crazy and spend a million dollars,  they have such cute stuff! Check out all their wedding related merchandise HERE.

When I came across these Thank You cards I knew I had to have them:

You all know I'm not a very colorful person, and since our wedding colors were Black & White, I customized this design to make it my own (another amazing thing about MagnetStreet---and no, they're not paying me to say any of this). I wasn't a huge fan of the names on the bottom or the pre-written note on the inside, so I scrapped those and came up with this:

Our Thank You notes!
Our names and address are on the back of the card as well. 

Because of Brianna I saved $119.50 on these bad boys!!! And, thanks to a super long plane ride to and from Mexico, I am happy to say that I had them all written and sent out within two weeks of the wedding! :)

Healthified Beef Stroganoff

While desperately searching for something delicious and not uber fattening to cook for my darling husband I came across this Healthified Beef Stroganoff recipe on Eat Better America. The recipe was pretty simple and J went as far as to say it was "the best thing you've ever made." Not so sure about that...but it was delicious. 

Here's the recipe and, of course, I am sharing it on Pinterest as well. 

INGREDIENTS: 

-1 1/2 lb. boneless beef sirloin steak {I just used stew beef, cutting raw meet grosses me out}

-2 tsp. Canola Oil

-1 large White Onion

-1 tsp. finely chopped garlic

-2 cups Beef Broth {I used Low Sodium Progresso}

-4 tsp. Worcestershire Sauce
-1 tsp. Dried Basil Leaves
-1/2 tsp. Salt
-1/4 tsp. Pepper
-1/4 cup Flour
-1 Jar (4.5oz) Sliced Mushrooms {drained}
-1 tbsp. Ketchup
-1 cup reduced-fat Sour Cream
-6 cups hot cooked Egg Noodles

DIRECTIONS:

1. Start by chopping your onion. I really only added this as a step so I could show you this sweet picture...yes, those are onion goggles! My best friend got them for me as part of a shower gift and while they are completely nerdy, they are totally AMAZING! I get serious eye-watering-issues while onion chopping but these bad boys block it out completely. 
2. If you get a sirloin, cut the beef with the grain into 2-inch strips, then cut the strips against the grain into 1/8-inch slice {this is precisely why I just bought stew beef}. In a 12-inch nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add beef, cook 4-6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until brown.
3. Add onion and garlic to skillet; cook 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Stir in 1 1/2 cups of the broth, the Worcestershire sauce, basil, salt and pepper. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until beef is tender. 
5. In a small bowl, mix flour and remaining 1/2 cup of broth with wire whisk until blended. 
6. Add mixture to skillet. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir for 1 minute. 
7. Stir in mushrooms and ketchup; cook until thoroughly heated, stirring occasionally. 
8. Remove from heat and stir in sour cream until well blended. 
9. Serve over warm noodles.

So yummy! Give it a try...you'll love it!

Healthified Beef Stroganoff

While desperately searching for something delicious and not uber fattening to cook for my darling husband I came across this Healthified Beef Stroganoff recipe on Eat Better America. The recipe was pretty simple and J went as far as to say it was "the best thing you've ever made." Not so sure about that...but it was delicious. 

Here's the recipe and, of course, I am sharing it on Pinterest as well. 

INGREDIENTS: 

-1 1/2 lb. boneless beef sirloin steak {I just used stew beef, cutting raw meet grosses me out}

-2 tsp. Canola Oil

-1 large White Onion

-1 tsp. finely chopped garlic

-2 cups Beef Broth {I used Low Sodium Progresso}

-4 tsp. Worcestershire Sauce
-1 tsp. Dried Basil Leaves
-1/2 tsp. Salt
-1/4 tsp. Pepper
-1/4 cup Flour
-1 Jar (4.5oz) Sliced Mushrooms {drained}
-1 tbsp. Ketchup
-1 cup reduced-fat Sour Cream
-6 cups hot cooked Egg Noodles

DIRECTIONS:
*Start by chopping your onion.
I really only added this as a step so I could show you this sweet picture...yes, those are onion goggles! My best friend got them for me as part of a shower gift and while they are completely nerdy, they are totally AMAZING!
I get serious eye-watering-issues while onion chopping but these bad boys block it out completely. 

*If you get a sirloin, cut the beef with the grain into 2-inch strips, then cut the strips against the grain into 1/8-inch slice {this is precisely why I just bought stew beef}. In a 12-inch nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add beef, cook 4-6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until brown.

*Add onion and garlic to skillet; cook 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.

whoopsies! finger! 

*Stir in 1 1/2 cups of the broth, the Worcestershire sauce, basil, salt and pepper. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until beef is tender. 

*In a small bowl, mix flour and remaining 1/2 cup of broth with wire whisk until blended. 

*Add mixture to skillet. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir for 1 minute. 

*Stir in mushrooms and ketchup; cook until thoroughly heated, stirring occasionally. 

*Remove from heat and stir in sour cream until well blended. 

*Serve over warm noodles.

1 serving {3/4 cup noodles and 2/3 cup beef mixture}: Calories 370 (Calories from Fat 90)

So yummy! Give it a try...you'll love it!